prosecute

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin prōsecūtus, perfect participle of prōsequor. Doublet of pursue, from Old French. Compare also persecute.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɒsɪkjuːt/

  • Audio (Southern England)

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Verb

prosecute (third-person singular simple present prosecutes, present participle prosecuting, simple past and past participle prosecuted)

1. (transitive, law) To start criminal proceedings against.

   to prosecute a man for trespass, or for a riot

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book SAMSON AGONISTES”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC, line 898:

     To acquit themſelves and proſecute their foes

2. (transitive, law) To charge, try.
   • 1962 [1959], William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch, New York: Grove Press, page 8:

     The Vigilante is prosecuted in Federal Court under a lynch bill and winds up in a Federal Nut House specially designed for the containment of ghosts […]

3. To seek to obtain by legal process.

   to prosecute a right or a claim in a court of law

4. (transitive) To pursue something to the end.

   to prosecute a scheme, hope, or claim

   c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

   I am beloved of beauteous Hermia; / Why should not I, then, prosecute my right?

Derived terms

• prosecutable

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams

• creeps out, outcreeps

Latin

Participle

prōsecūte

1. vocative masculine singular of prōsecūtus